However, most people won’t be able to hear the difference if they’re older than 24, have some form of noise-induced hearing loss, or are in the presence of outside noise. For this reason, we recommend wireless Bluetooth headphones for those commuting, or in noisy situations. If you’re listening primarily at home at the computer—get a set of wired headphones.
Headphones can prevent other people from hearing the sound, either for privacy or to prevent disturbing others, as in listening in a public library. They can also provide a level of sound fidelity greater than loudspeakers of similar cost. Part of their ability to do so comes from the lack of any need to perform room correction treatments with headphones. High-quality headphones can have an extremely flat low-frequency response down to 20 Hz within 3 dB. While a loudspeaker must use a relatively large (often 15" or 18") speaker driver to reproduce low frequencies, headphones can accurately reproduce bass and sub-bass frequencies with speaker drivers only 40-50 millimeters wide (or much smaller, as is the case with in-ear monitor headphones). Headphones' impressive low-frequency performance is possible because they are so much closer to the ear that they only need to move relatively small volumes of air.
I see, yes, but that should serve as an important lesson – the soundstage is not real in the same sense as actual tones, bass, treble, whatever. Soundstage is a perception that’s based on many factors, and here’s a challenge for you: You should be able to find some music tracks that have better soundstage on one headphone, and other tracks that will be better on the other headphone. Most of the time it will be just one way, but when a closed headphone beats an open headphone, I expect the open headphone will still show an advantage on some tracks. Your hearing perception could be tricked by simple things like a recess or emphasis in certain frequency ranges, or even phase shift when more than one driver is in the cup.
The Earbuds 500 won’t be available until early 2020, but they might just be worth waiting for. They look to be the natural successor to the SoundSport Free, the company’s first go at truly wireless earbuds, but probably better in every way. The Earbuds 500 will likely have a longer battery life, a smaller charging case and charge via USB-C. They will be sport-focused, too, and a more affordable option to the company’s other new-age wireless earbuds, the Noise Cancelling Earbuds 700.

Dale: The examples listed here are good general rules, but one thing to keep in mind is in the mid-to-lower price tiers, open-back headphones aren’t nearly as common as the closed types. The smaller list of choices, and the more limited reviews of those items, could make getting a perfect fit more difficult. Sound stage and openness are often given as the advantage of the open-back types, but it’s just a general rule and some closed-back headphones excel at those properties. An important thing to consider is the music itself, since sound stage and perspective varies widely in different recordings.

Gaming headsets are headphones that have a microphone attached and allow users to speak to other people and hear them with the same device. In fact, gaming headsets have other practical applications as well. You can use them in business or personal situations when you want to speak to people on a computer using a video phone program or social media chat room. Although these work for music applications, they're more suited for conversational clarity.